Category Archives: philosophy

The problem of top-down focus rather than bottom-up in technology, especially in artificial intelligence.

Firstly, this is how I design a system: (example, a system for teaching students.)

Model

This contains the material to be taught, and the strategies used to teach that material.

User

The individual student account.

Executive

The brain of the system that processes inputs and outputs between user and the model.

Face

This is the outward face of the system the user sees in which they make their inputs and receives their outputs.

The challenge of top-down approach

Most organisations use the top-down approach. They make little or no difference between the user and the model. The user to these people is another dataset in the model that the system tries to force into the model.

Models often use large datasets upon which the system creates stereotypical assumptions based upon the bias of the data. For instance, in the USA the majority of the prison population is non-white, and the majority of the general population is Christian and white, thus the model is biased for the majority and against the minority.

In the top-down model of a school the bias is against those with learning challenges such as ADHD, Dyslexia or autism. In the USA and the UK the focus is on results, with an increasingly number of schools run by private companies such as the chartered schools in the USA and the academies in the UK. All these companies act for profit and focus on results, using a top-down system that is biased against those different from the stereotypical model. The desire of such schools is to penalise, push aside or get rid of those that are outside of the model.

A common challenge with the top-down method is that the user and the model has been lumped together in the system, and if the user fails to match the model, they suffer in the system.

Using the bottom-up approach

The user is split from the model, the executive focuses on harmonising the model to the unique needs of the user. If the user has a learning challenge such as ADHD, the executive flags this up to the user account, applies different rules from the model with the appropriate strategies for ADHD students. The focus is on the user, the model is deployed to the needs of the user.

Conclusion

If someone desires to use my services in designing their system, I will look at their system. If I see the top-down approach, I won’t work with them. I think top-down systems belong to a barbarian age, I support the beneficial bottom-up approach to system design.

The acorn has the potential to become an oak tree. The solar power device uses knowledge of science to harvest potential energy from the sun to power devices such as cellphones.

An acorn has within itself the potential to become an oak tree. A person may have the opinion that the acorn will become a yew tree, but unless the person is a genetic expert at manipulation of genes, the acorn has no potential to become a yew tree.

“In these (verses) he indicates that the beings always subsisted, and the beings that are now come to be from (or: out of) subsisting things.

The Derveni Papyrus describes potential as something that subsists, that unless a potential already exists in a thing, such as the potential for an oak tree subsists in the acorn, but the yew tree does not, only an oak tree is possible from the acorn.

Deal with truth rather than opinions

Those in the LHP in theory deal with real things, that is to say, that they put aside opinions, and look for what is real. Human sheep will base their faith, truth and ideas upon opinions that have neither basis in material reality or in the subsisting potentials from which material things come about. A sheep will believe for instance that the yew tree will come out of an acorn based upon their faith, prayers and hubris; those of the LHP will base their truth on the empirical approach of observation, demonstration and experience of an oak tree coming from an acorn, and using the inductive reasoning of inferring that this common pattern is the same for all acorns.

With no potential for something, a thing can never become that something

If a thing has no subsisting potential for something else, then that something else will never manifest. If an individual avoids smoking tobacco, they remove one potential to manifest lung cancer. If an individual jogs each day, they create a potential to run faster when for instance they are rushing to catch a bus. In any problem or challenge, it is best to focus on looking for the potential in a thing rather than blindly forcing an opinion upon a thing that does not exist in a subsisting potential in that thing; only oak trees come from acorns, not opinions of yew trees. If an individual wants to create or invent something, look for the subsisting potential in the thing, then liberate it. Eros and his arrows know the subsisting potentials in things, and uses his arrows to liberate or release that potential into a material, manifested or kinetic form.

How to discover a hidden potential in a thing

Potentials are subsisting, which is to say they already exist forever somewhere, and they are called into being by certain processes in nature, for instance planting an acorn in soil initiates a process of growing the oak tree from it. One of the challenges of knowing a potential is they are invisible and hidden. How to discover a potential in a thing? Firstly, humility, seeing what is there rather than blinding self with hubristic opinions; using the empirical method of observation, demonstration and experience, then using the inductive method to infer that this pattern is common and applicable to a wider range of situations; oak trees commonly come from acorns. If empirically one observes galaxies and hurricanes moving in a spiral, one might infer a common pattern that all things move in a motion of a spiral rather than a straight line.

A potential has two qualities

A potential has two qualities. An acorn for instance has to have a pattern, idea or map to become an oak tree; but also the acorn needs the energy, gas or fuel to become the oak tree. If the oak tree is the final destination in the journey, the potential in the acorn provides the map and gas to get to that destination. Also to note is that all things visible and manifested in nature are in constant motion or change, that all things are a work in progress, there being no final states, but a paradox of completeness and working to completion; that the potential and the kinetic realisation of that potential is cycling in and out of each other at every moment in a thing. I have the potential of becoming human, and all my life at every moment that potential is being manifested in a kinetic state of being human, and I will never suddenly become a yew tree in my current life.

Where potentials come from

Where do potentials come from? The Derveni Papyrus describes the processes of nature in a metaphorical way, and describes a voice that is always speaking and teaching, but not instructing, neither can it be heard in the sense of hearing things. Those that connect with this voice learn or become aware of things in the same way as the metaphorical eating of the fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge, and the individual gains two qualities: strength and the cause.

The cause (daemon) and potential

Strength has already been dealt with, it is another name for potential. Cause is described by the Derveni Papyrus as a “daemon”, which is the quality that drives potentials into a manifested or visible material form or kinetic state. The reason why Heraclitus and others consider war or strife as the principle rule of nature, is that all motion and change is driven by the clash of two or more opposites, without which no potential can be driven into kinetic form. It is not enough for an acorn to contain the map and gas to become the oak tree, there has to be a daemon or clash of opposites to drive that potential out of the acorn into the material manifested form of an oak tree; the acorn has to be subject to a process of liberation through planting, the addition of water, soil, light and air (all four elements) to get the oak tree out of the acorn.

How potentials become manifested

The Derveni Papyrus describes how the voice becomes the breath of Zeus, or the wisdom upon which all things in nature move. The wisdom is metaphorically described as consisting of three female weavers known as Moira. The first of the Moira spins out one thing from the clash of multiple subsisting potentials, like a baby comes from two joining separate sets of genes from two parents. The second Moira allocates the potential to a thing, such as intelligence in a baby. The third Moira spits the potential out into the material world, the baby cannot move outside of its potential, for instance every living thing is doomed to die because their genes can only function so long until they fall apart by the natural decay through old age that all living things are doomed to face, if they are fortunate to live that long.

A thing can never move outside of its potential

Once a thing is liberated from its potential state into the kinetic material world, it moves within the limits of its potential unless acted upon by some external contrary force. There is no mind or god acting to direct things in nature once they are released and manifested, they will flow along according to their potential state, the acorn becoming an oak tree, the oak tree throwing down acorns, and so on. If an asteroid smacks into the earth and kills everyone, it was a random accident, no god or mind is the cause of this; asteroid and planet have moved according to their potentials and collided accidentally.

The LHP individual has the edge over opinionated human sheep

Stupid sheep think opinions that a god or mind has sent three hurricanes crashing into the USA to punish gay people. The wise of the LHP know that the hurricanes are born out of natural processes following their own potential natures, strengthened by the warmth of the sea, dying as the land suck the energy out of them when they hit landfall. The philosophy of potentiality gives the LHP individual a significant edge over human sheep; whilst the human sheep pray for fruitless opinions, those of the LHP can find the potentials, liberate them, and use those potentials to their own advantage.

Trump and North Korea is an example of the interaction of tribalism caused by oxytocin.

Human beings are social animals, they are designed to live in small groups rather than anonymous large populations. Studies show that the individual is most happy with regular interaction with small intimate communities. The hormone oxytocin is behind the identification, bonding and relationships between people, and is the foundation upon which tribalism comes about.

As an individual I identify emotionally with the Left Hand Path, and I react strongly against anything that seeks to harm those of my tribal identification. These feelings I have of identification, and hostility towards that which threatens my tribe, is down to the impact of oxytocin.

A complaint about the ancient Welsh people was their constant infighting over land, power and wealth, in which they quite happily murdered their own brother and father. Yet, if an outsider killed their brother whom they had a quarrel with, the Welshman was quick to anger and determination to avenge the death through blood feud. Although oxytocin fails to keep brother from killing brother, it surges if an outsider kills the brother.

Interestingly, when the Satan Hunters, those promoting a Satanic Ritual Abuse fiction in London, had one of their number known as Rupert Wilson Quaintance IV jailed for nine months for stalking and harassing children and their families he considered were Satanists, the backlash was intense. Usually these Satan Hunters spend most of their time fighting each other, but as a tribe with shared values, the fall of one of their number resulted in a collective unified backlash against those they consider their enemy. The backlash is the result of the oxytocin hormone, the tribe pushing back against a situation that threatens them.

It is worth learning about oxytocin since it has a wide and significant impact on human history, society and reactivity.

A minority religion of 1000 Odinists in Britain recently demanded an apology from the Church of England for alleged crimes against their religion, demanding two churches be handed over to them as compensation. Welcome to a society in the UK and America that embraces victimhood, self-entitlement and self-righteousness.

People who play the victim card prefer to rewrite history and their place in it. The Church of England was founded in 1534, and the Viking claims over the UK ended at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. It is to the Roman Catholic Pope that the Odinists might approach rather than the Church of England Archbishop of Canterbury. The Church of England have no historical or ethical need to apologise to the Odinists or give them buildings for their religion. If the Odinists are invoking alleged injustices upon their Viking roots, then the Christian has a greater claim for compensation from the Odinists, for the burning and pillaging of countless Christian churches and abbeys, plus the murder and rape of innocent people. The Odinists conveniently forget what their forbears have inflicted upon the innocent whilst playing their victim card. The Odinists are a modern revivalist religion, and their claims of authenticity and lineage from the Vikings of both their religion and their membership is open to challenge.

A few years ago the Druids claimed the bones of a child the archaeologists dug up at Stonehenge, a matter that was fought over in the courts. The Druids are another revivalist religion that has little in common with what is known about the Druids in the time of Julius Caesar. There is no historical or archaeological evidence to support that Druids were associated with stone circles, they are a religion preferring tree worship and groves. It is likely the Druid religion was imported into Britain and then Ireland from the Belgae who invaded the East and South of Britain from Gaul about a hundred years before Julius Caesar invaded Britain. There is no evidence of Druid worship outside of Belgae lands such as in Scotland or the Brigante lands in the Midlands. The evidence of Druids in Ireland might be due to the refugees that poured into Ireland when the Romans invaded Wales. The Druids have no legitimate historical claim over the bones of a child of a religion and people unconnected to Druids, let alone a romantic revivalist group.

In the USA the self-entitled and self righteous victim-loving idiots demand that the statues of General Robert Lee be covered up or removed in Virginia. Lee was never a fan of slavery, and he was a passionate believer in liberty of his own people from the Union, thus like many he fought for liberty in which hundreds of thousands died. The American Civil War was not only about slavery, it was about the right for individual communities and states to determine their own destiny. All because a victim-loving group of neo-Nazis claim Lee as their idol, it is wrong that he become the target of another set of victim-lovers.

So here we are, a world full of fools who want to play victim, is it a wonder that the USA and the UK are in a serious mess?

The internet is alike to a grave yard, drowning in fixed unchanging content rarely recycled or fresh. Why can’t everything be generated immediately for the moment by an AI, which changes from one moment to the next?

One of my frustrations about the internet and media is that everything that is generated and consumed is a fixed snapshot of a moment. Heraclitus says that if you step in the river a second time, it will be different from the first time, since all nature is moving and changing from moment to moment. What is served up on the internet such as a song, a video, an image or news article is a fixed unchanging thing, which makes the internet seem dead and stagnant, drowning under useless unchanging dead content. How exciting if the user could serve up content that was changing from one moment to the next, a song that changed, a video, or news report.

I can visit my garden at different times, what will be served up to me will be different each time. Moment to moment plants, animals and climate are appearing, changing and vanishing. Everything in the garden is fresh, new and never the same. This garden is manifesting a narrative that is exciting, surprising and creative. How I wish this organic state of my garden might be replicated on the internet and in the media.

With the advent of artificial intelligence it should be possible that the AI can match the need of the user with unique, fresh and useful content there and then, which at this moment only happens in a limited way with regards to weather and financial markets.

I think the days of search engines such as Google are numbered, which is in essence a search engine of fixed static content like videos. An AI could generate animation, images, songs that are unique, spontaneous and in real-time, changing from moment to moment, and therefore cannot be indexed for a search.

When it comes to art, I prefer something that has motion such as an engine powered by the wind rather than a fixed static picture hanging on the wall. My philosophy of what I would like in art and the internet reflects the philosophy of Heraclitus, that all things are in motion and changing at each moment.

This world drowns in injustice. For much of my life I have lifted my sword against injustice. My ADD/ADHD brain can see the big picture, how an injustice impacts others; and I have the hyper-focus to mount a passionate and focussed campaign to fight emerging injustices.

Tomorrow, in a certain court room, my efforts to prevent an injustice might emerge to either support or hinder an injustice. I am writing this, uncertain, which way the winds will blow. All I know, I am done, I am finished. The fight is over, and I no longer will be fighting any campaign when this final chapter plays out. This warrior retires, hopefully with one last positive outcome.

AI is a subject marked with profound ignorance by the general population.

Dozens of robotics experts recently called for a ban on AI weapons saying it is morally wrong. In my opinion morality has no place in science and technology, especially when it is based upon ignorance, speculation and profit.

Unless the individual has done computer coding, or put together the components into an electronic device, then that individual will come to the table on the AI debate with a profound ignorance on the subject, lacking the insight of wisdom based upon what it involves to build an AI. For instance, to code a script to extract certain text from one document and put it into another document requires thought about every stage and action that must happen to successfully carry out the task in computer code. With these insights the individual understands that every stage of AI is highly complicated, that there is a difference between true and false AI, and the extent of AI.

Regular critic of AI Professor Hawking is an expert on black holes, but has no experience of coding or putting together electronic devices, thus he is as ignorant about AI as any random person found in a Friday night bar. Yet, because he is an expert in something, has a title after his name, and is a celebrity, people are expected to see his ignorant opinions on AI as authoritative. Elon Musk is another individual calling for regulation of AI, this man has a personal monetary interest to curb potential rivals in a highly competitive and profitable AI market via regulation of the industry

A piece of metal loaded with weapons, that has sensors, that can process a limited range of patterns such as determining a human from a rock, is no more intelligent than a kettle or television set. Even in philosophy there is no clear answer over what defines consciousness, and the general business market seems to think anything that automates a task is AI. A business operates for profit, and when it builds a machine to do a task, it will not waste profit building in unnecessary functions that has no relevance to the task that the product is designed to meet, which is to say an automated machine gun located on the nation border that senses its surrounds and can act accordingly; won’t have the motivation or potential to take over the global missile systems and nuke the human race.

What the masses see on television as an AI such as in the Terminator movies are machines that have human emotions, those that are angry, greedy, lustful, fearful and hateful. However, human emotions are based on hormones, and nobody who is designing and selling AI is going to waste money stuffing their products with hormones that impairs their function to do a task; who wants to buy an emo robot who can’t do the laundry because it needs to see a therapist over the death of the family pet goldfish?

The obsession with designing a robot that looks and acts like a human for the purposes of friendship, sex or other human needs, is a sad reflection of the state of humanity, who are unable to find these needs in each other, but prefer this in a machine. The inference thus is rather than the machine being the cause of the destruction of the human race, it is the inability to relate and share between fellow human beings that might be the cause of war and the eventual destruction of the species. Morality has become misplaced in the debate about AI, obscuring the true existential challenges that the individual, family and community suffer by placing boundaries of separation and mistrust from each other, rather than finding bridges of cooperation and mutual benefit.